By DANIEL SUBRAMANIAM
AS with any sporting event, crazy supporters are always part of the festivities. At Cheer, not only are teams battling it out to emerge champions, their supporters are also trying to out-cheer each other to grab the Best Supporters’ Award.
It’s hard to imagine a cheer competition without the hoardes of cheering supporters as well. Gone are the days when the cheerleaders were the supporters themselves, as nowadays, the cheerleaders have even become the main highlight of the day.
Cheerleading has effectively become a sport in its own right (eventhough the debate on using the term “sport” is still on-going).
Last year, DynaMick, the supporters of both the Dynamitez and Mickeymitez from SMK Damansara Jaya, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, grabbed the Best Supporters’ Award.
This wasn’t all that surprising considering the fact that they came in six busloads – that’s over 200 screaming supporters, who were a sea of red who took over an entire section of the stadium.
The Dynamitez's supoprters from SMK Damansara Jaya took home the Sugus Best Supporters award last year.
These supporters were not just schoolmates, there were also friends from other schools.
“Most of our supporters come from our school but we also get supporters from other schools too. They may have heard about us and come out to support us,” explained Dynamitez team captain Farah Sophia Ibrahim, 16.
“They follow us when we perform in other competitions and our schoolmates even support us during our intensive practices,” added Farah.
You could almost say that these die-hard supporters are almost like band groupies.
“When we joined the CHARM Cheerleading Competition (C3) we had supporters who were there too but Cheer is like the event of the year. That’s when we get the largest supporter turn out,” added Mickeymitez captain Jake Lim, 17.
“We even had supporters who came for the National Youth Day Cheerleading Competition all the way in Putrajaya,” quipped Farah.
Dynamitez supporters weren’t the only ones who were cheering their teams on in Putrajaya, as supporters from SM Sri Kuala Lumpur were also there to support the Rayvens, who later emerged champions.
The Sri KL supporters have even formed their own society within the school – the Sri KL Cyrens and Ravyens Supporters club (SCARS).
The 15 to 20 supporters who were at Putrajaya were all up early to make their way there.
“We are here to support Rayvens and also to check out the other teams and see how they fare against us,” explained SCARS member Bryan Lim,17.
SCARS is out to wrest the Best Supporters Award back from DynaMick after losing it last year.
Not content with just cheering the teams on from the sidelines, these supporters have even taken to Twitter to support their teams. Scars has been tweeting under the handle @SKL_SCARS since May 2012 and have amassed 350 followers.
They tweet team updates and the usual encouraging and motivational tweets (mostly in caps lock of course).
There were even some ex-Calyx All-Girls members who were at Putrajaya to support their girls. They may not have formed their own society within their school, but these former cheerleaders were out there cheering their old team on as loud as they could. Though they may not have come out in droves, their support went a long way. Calyx emerged as runner-ups in the competition.
When it comes to the big day itself, these supporters don’t hold back. From crazy mascots to vuvuzelas and drummers, we’ve seen cheering and applauding for hours on end at Cheer.
The energy at Cheer is simply electrifying so make sure you don’t miss out on the excitement this year at Cheer 2012.
* Cheer 2012 is organised by R.AGE and Galaxie, co-presented by Silkygirl and co-sponsored by Sugus. The Cheer 2012 finals will be held on June 16 and 17 at Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam, Selangor. Admission is free.
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